Cardiorespiratory fitness and cancer in women:A prospective pilot study

Purpose:To assess the association between cardiorespiratory fitness(CRF)and the incidence and mortality from cancer in women,and to evaluate the potential public health implications for cancer prevention.Methods:Maximal exercise testing was performed in a pilot cohort of 184 women(59.3 ± 15.2 years)who were followed for 12.0 ± 6.9 years.Cox hazard models adjusted for established cancer risk factors and accounting for competing events were analyzed for all-type cancer incidence and mortality from cancer.Population-attributable risks and exposure impact number were determined for low CRF(<5 metabolic equivalents(METs))as a risk factor.Results:During the follow-up,11.4% of the participants were diagnosed with cancer and 3.2% died from cancer.CRF was inversely and independently associated with cancer outcomes.For every 1-metabolic equivalent increase in CRF,there was a 20% decrease in the risk of cancer incidence(hazard ratio(HR)= 0.80,95% confidence interval(CI):0.69-0.92;p=0.001)and a 26% reduction in risk of cancer mortality(HR = 0.74,95%CI:0.61-0.90;p=0.002).The population-attributable risks of low CRF were 11.6% and 14% for incidence and mortality of cancer,respectively,and the respective exposure impact numbers were 8 and 20.Conclusion:Greater CRF was independently associated with a lower risk of incidence and mortality from cancer in women.Screening for low CRF as a cancer risk factor and referring unfit individuals to a supervised exercise program could be a public health strategy for cancer prevention in middle-age women.

Expansion Planning for Renewable Integration in Power System of Regions with Very High Solar Irradiation

In this paper,we address the long-term generation and transmission expansion planning for power systems of regions with very high solar irradiation.We target the power systems that currently rely mainly on thermal generators and that aim to adopt high shares of renewable sources.We propose a stochastic programming model with expansion alternatives including transmission lines,solar power plants(photovoltaic and concentrated solar),wind farms,energy storage,and flexible combined cycle gas turbines.The model represents the longterm uncertainty to characterize the demand growth,and the short-term uncertainty to characterize daily solar,wind,and demand patterns.We use the Saudi Arabian power system to illustrate the functioning of the proposed model for several cases with different renewable integration targets.The results show that a strong dependence on solar power for high shares of renewable sources requires high generation capacity and storage to meet the night demand.